W3L2 - 2 to 7 years – Development of “Tools” for Thought

Question 1

Background information of early and middle childhood - Body

Answer 1

• Growth: 6 cm per year
• Weight: 2.25 kg per year
• Muscle mass and Strength: Increase; baby fat decreases
• Boys have a greater number of muscle cells and are typically stronger than girls

Question 2

Development of Gross Motor Skills

Answer 2

• Smoother and more coordinated

Boys usually outperform girls

Question 3

Development of Fine Motor Skills

Answer 3

• Improvement during middle childhood due to myelination of the central nervous system

Girls usually outperform boys on fine motor skills

Question 4

Background information of Exercise and Sport in growth

Answer 4

Involvement in daily sport in US schools decreased from 80% (1969) to 20% (1999)

> Contributes to low activity and obesity in children

Question 5

What are some problems with obesity in children

Answer 5

Overweight child risk factor for adult obesity

Medical: Pulmonary problems, diabetes, high blood pressure
Psychological: Low self-esteem, depression, exclusion from peer groups

Question 6

What are the conservation tasks

Answer 6

Numbers (dots spread out)
Volume (liquid in 2 containers)
Mass (Flatten)

Question 7

What are the elements of concrete operations

Answer 7

C (on) C (re) TE + SD

1. ) Decline in Egocentricism
2. ) Decentration + Reversibility = Conservation
3. ) Transformations
4. ) Classification
5. ) Seriation
6. ) Deductive reasoning

Question 8

What is element of concrete operation 1: decline in egocentric-ism

Answer 8

Differentiation of one’s own perspective from the perspectives of others: (own thoughts and feelings are not necessarily shared by others)

Question 9

What is element of concrete operation 3: transformations

Answer 9

Ability to think and reason about change processes.

Question 10

What is element of concrete operation 4: classification

Answer 10

Multiple classification: ability to classify objects as belonging to two or more categories at the same time.

Question 11

What is element of concrete operation 5: seriation

Answer 11

Ability to sort by size

Question 12

What is element of concrete operation 6: deductive reasoning

Answer 12

Draw logical inference on 2 pieces of information

Question 13

What did Piaget Lack. Context.

Answer 13

Piaget showed that children had undeveloped cognition but he looked at abstract ideas as an index (tasks such as beaker are not contextualized)

Question 14

What are 2 nonlinguistic symbols in children

Answer 14

1. Using Symbols as Information

2. Drawing

Question 15

Children non linguistic symbol 1: Using symbols as information

Answer 15

Involves mastery of symbolic creations of others and creation of new symbolic representations

(e.g. maps: dual representation of map as a real object and a symbol of something)

Question 16

What does the scale model task in children demonstrate

Answer 16

Dual Representation (2.5yo fail; 3 yo ok)

Asked to use a scale model to locate a hidden toy in a room.

Question 17

What is the caveat of scale model task

Answer 17

Not necessary to form a symbol-referent relationship between the model and the room

(children were led to believe that the room had been shrunk)

Question 18

Children non linguistic symbol 2: Drawing

Answer 18

• Common symbolic activity

- Children’s artistic ideas often outstrip their motor and planning (cognitive) capability

Question 19

Children non linguistic symbol 2: Drawing (Tadpole)

Answer 19

Representation of humans. Universal & common.

Question 20

Children non linguistic symbol 2: Drawing (Houses)

Answer 20

This child’s drawing relies on some well-practiced strategies, but the child has not yet worked out how to represent complex spatial relationships

Question 21

Children non linguistic symbol 2: Drawing (Extraordinary)

Answer 21

Nadia good drawing at 4, gone by 25.

Question 22

What are the 3 categories children normally sort into

Answer 22

1. ) Inanimate objects
2. ) People
3. ) Living Things

Question 23

How do children form categories:

Answer 23

• Figure out how things in the word are related to one another is by dividing objects into CATEGORY HIERARCHIES.

Question 24

What are category hierarchies. (Subtypes)

Answer 24

1. ) Super-ordinate
2. ) Basic
3. ) Subordinate

Question 25

When do infants form categories. And How?

Answer 25

• First months.
• Perceptual categorization: Similar appearances.
• Often categorizations are based on parts of objects rather then on the object as a whole (color, size)

Question 26

2 yo infants forming category: how?

Answer 26

1. ) Overall shape
2. ) Basis of function, and can use their knowledge of categories to determine which actions go with which type of objects

Question 27

What are trends in an infant’s ability to form categories

Answer 27

1. ) Understanding of category hierarchies
2. ) Understanding of causal connections

Both involve knowledge of relations among categories

Question 28

Which category do infants learn first

Answer 28

Basic. (Superordinate: No common characteristics; Subordinate: Hard to discriminate)

Question 29

What category do sometimes infants form

Answer 29

Child-Basic Category, between basic and sub-ordinate

“things that roll instead of balls” > usually with assistance from adults, infants form sub and superordinate

Question 30

How does causal inference help in categoires

Answer 30

Helps children learn and remember new categories.

E.g: Hearing that “wugs” are well prepared to fight and “gillies” to flee helped preschoolers categorize novel pictures like these as “wugs” or “gillies.”

Question 31

Do infants have imaginary friends?

Answer 31

63% of children at ages 3-4 and again at 7-8 had imaginary friends (ordinary/fanciful)

Question 32

What affects infants’ imaginary friend;

Answer 32

• Not associated with personality or intelligence

- Associated with first-born/only children/ little TV/ verbally skillful/ advance ToM

Question 33

What are infants’ knowledge of living things

Answer 33

Demonstrate a variety of immature beliefs and types of reasoning.

(e. g. plants and animals serve a purpose)
(e. g. <5: humans are animals?)
(e. g. <7-9: plants are alive?)

Question 34

What are infants’ knowledge of people vs non people

Answer 34

9- and 12-month-olds show surprise when inanimate objects (robot) move on their own

> Understood self-produced motion is characteristic of living things

Question 35

How do examine biological processes knowledge in infants

Answer 35

Preschooolers understand that biological processes differ from psychological and physical ones.

The extent of preschoolers’ understanding of biological processes can be understood by examining their ideas about inheritance, growth and illness

Question 36

infant’s knowledge of Inheritance

Answer 36

Preschoolers know physical characteristics tend to be passed on from parent to offspring,

(At times their belief in inheritance is too strong, and they deny the influence of the environment )

Question 37

infant’s knowledge of Growth, Illness, Healing

Answer 37

• Growth is a product of internal processes.
• Plants and animals, unlike inanimate objects, have internal processes that allow them to heal.
• Limits of recuperative processes and understand that illness and old age can cause death.

Question 38

infant’s knowledge of Heriability. What is the infant’s view

Answer 38

Essentialism, the view that living things have an essence inside them that makes them what they are

Question 39

What is the difference between nativisits and empiricists

Answer 39

Nativists: We are born with a biology module (evolutionary)

Empiricists: Biological understanding comes from personal observations and information they receive from other people and their culture